Eyeglass and method of making the same



Patented Nov. 6, 1923.

. UNITED STATES.

CLEO II. KIDWELL,

PATENT OFFICE,

OF NEW BRIGHTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN MANNING VAN HEUSEN, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

EYEGLASS AND METHOD or MAKING rrrn SAME.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,CLEO H. KIDWELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Brighton, county of Richmond, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Eyeglasses and Methods of Mflring the Same, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in eyeglasses and methods of making the same. More particularly the invention relates to that type of eyeglasses known as pince nez, that is, the type wherein'means engaging the'nose is relied upon to hold the glasses in place.

Patent No. 1, 107 ,45() to John M. Van Heusen, entitled Eyeglasses, describes a guard-liner for glasses of the pince nez type, made of fabric material having a pile surface on its free face which is so woven that all the pile threads are inclined in the same direction at substantially the same angle with respect to the plane of the fabric. This pile fabric is so placed on the guard of the eyeglass that the inclined pile threads are pointing in a direction to oppose the natural movement or slip of the glasses toward the apex of the nose.

Fabrics of or similar to the type described are relatively thick and stiff and considerable difficulty has been encountered in providing a method of securely attaching the fabric to the eyeglass guards so that the cut edges thereof do not ravel and so that the liner presents a neat and trim appearance.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a method of so treating fabric eyeglass liners or liners of'similar material that cut edges thereof will not ravel or fray and so that the attachment of the liner to theguard is greatly facilitated. My invention contemplates the treatment of the fabric either before or after it has been out. In either case I may treat the entire back face of the fabric or only certain portions thereof.

Broadly stated, my invention comprises, first, applying to the back face of the fabric, or the portion thereof which it is desired to treat, a layer of binding material which at the time of application is in a pasty, gela- Application filed June 13, 1922. Serial No. 568,040.

tinous or fluid condition, so that it saturates the back layer or face of the fabric, and which subsequently solidifies and adheres to the fabric; second, cutting out. from the fabric,'if the said fabric has beentreated before cutting, the guard liners or grips of any desired size andsh'ape; third, securing to the eyeglass guard or other support the fabric liner so treated and cut; I have found that by utilizing a proper binding material which is so treated by. suitable solvents or other means as tobe wholly or partially in a gelatinous or fluid condition, and by applying the'said binding material to the fabric so that the back face thereof is impregnated therewith and. so that the front exposed pile or othersurface is free from any impregnation or saturation therewith, the fabric so' treated will, 'u'p on the solidification of the binding material, be rendered non-fraying. That isto say, if is a cut edge of the fabric material which is treated, the said edgewill not ravelr'or fray, and if it is the whole or a portion of apiece of fabric that is treated, cut edges formed by cuts made through/the treated portions will not ravel or fray; The backing, that is, the binding material applied to the back of the fabric, may conslst of a very thin coating of'thesa-id bind# ing material, or a layer of appreciable thickness maybe used. In the former case the treated fabric will, after the binding material has solidified, retain a degree of flexibility comparable to that of the untreated fabric,fwhile'in the latter case the layer of binding material when solidified will provide a relatively stiff and rigid backing or support for the fabric. 1

The fabric liner may be'secured to the eyeglassesin a' number of ways. If the fabric has been treated with a very thin coating of the binding material and. is relatively flexible, the fabric liner may be fastened to a guardof approximately the same size and shape as the fabric liner by gluing, cementing, crimping, riveting or otherwise securing the said liner to the guard. If,

however, the fabric liner isfprovided with a relatively thick layer of binding material and is consequently stiff and non-flexible,

the use of a guard of the same size as the liner may be dispensed with and the fabric liner may be secured directly to the guardsupports by any desired means, as, for example, by rivetin If the front face of the fabric liner is so and. cushion-like, such as I occurs in a pile fabric,rit will be obvious that rivets placed therethrough will sink into the softface of the fabric and will not touch the nose of the wearer but may even be entirely obscured from view by the outwardly extending pile threads. The closely woven back face of the fabric liner and the binding material with which the said back faceis impregnated will, however, be suffipracticed. n t in order that: those skilled do: that hei aifi: iq atile in the art, may understand the invention fully and mayapply it to any desired material, I will, for urposes of illustration rncrel and not wit the intention of limiting t e scopg of the invention in any r s "ct, descri one Way in hich I h ve app ied the invention toone type of fabric with e len esul s,

Th fabric Whose. treatment I am about to de cribe is a fabric having a pile surface on. one side and with the pile threads inclined..i rl the samedirection with respect to the plane of the fabric. This fabric, which is illustrated and described in Patent No. 1,407,450, to John M. Van Heusen, is made up of pile threads Woven into and secured by the back of the fabric which is a closely woven layer made up of warp and weft threads and which gives body and shape to the fabric. For this particular fabric I have found that celluloid, among others, gives satisfactory results as a binding and stiffening agent. Itake a strip of celluloid of slightly greater thickness than that desired on the back of the fabric after the treatment has been completed, and of approximately. the shape and length of the strip of fabric or portio thereof which I desire to treat. I then subject the celluloid to the action of a suitable solvent, for example, ethyl acetate, and allow the upper Surface of the celluloid to be ome softv and gelatinous. I then prefstably all w the esl l id t and f r shor I 129 p mi he vap at o he more, ve portlons of the solvent, in or? f gpie s wi act hen th eel ulmd i QPH e e fa ric,

soak through the back face and wet the front pile surface also. l/Vhen the said volatile portions have been sufhciently evaporated and the upper surface of the celluloid is in the above described gelatinous condition, I place the strip of fabric on the celluloid so that the back face of the fabric comes in contact with the upper gelatinous surface of the celluloid I then press the fabric firmly in place, thus forcing the celluloid to flow into the back face of the fabric and completely surround and impregnate the threads'making up the said back face and also the lower ends of the pile threads which are interwoven with the warp and weft threads there of. I then allow the gelatinous portion of the celluloid to solidify, after which the treatment is complete and the fabric is ready to be cut up into any shapes and sizes desired, if such cutting has not been performed prior to the treatment of the said fabric.

It will be seen that it is unnecessary to convert all of the celluloid binding material into a gelatinous condition but only such part of the celluloid on the upper surface thereof as is required to completely saturate or impregnate the back face of the fabric. The remainder of the celluloid may be left in its solid state and will serve as a stiffening and reinforcing agent of the fabric. In cutting the eyeglass liners or grips from the fabric the cuts may be made through the fabric and also through the celluloid backing, so that each cut fabric liner is provided with a relatively stifl celluloid backing and is also rendered non-fraying at the edges by virtue of the celluloid impregnation above described. 7 i

The fabric liners, after completion of the above described treatment and after being cut to the desired shape, may be secured to the eyeglass guards, supports or other devices for holding the said liners, by any desired. means, such. for example, as gluing.

cementing, crimping, riveting or sweat ing the celluloid back of the fabric liner to the said support. As hereinbefore mentioned. the thickness of the backing of the binding material may be varied widely, depending in part on the degree of rigidity and stiffness which it is desired to give the fabric liner. I have found that a backing of say 1/32 to 1/64: of an inch of celluloid gives the liner a considerable degree of stiffness. The liner then does not require for its support a guard of substantially the same size and shape as the liner. but may he riveted or otherwise secured directly to the small arms or prongs to which the guard is normally fastened.

As above stated, in carrying out my invention the cut edge of the fabric may be treated after being out. or the fabric as a whole, or that part of it contiguous to-the proposed cut, may be treated before the cut for. With the examples given above, foris made. I prefer to treat the entire fabric (on the back face thereof as above described) for the reason that many types of fabric commence to fray almost immediately on being cut, and also for the reason that I find. it easier and more economical to treat the fabric in one piece rather than the relatively small liners after they have been cut.

It is to be understood that my invention is not limited to the treatment of any particular type of fabric or to the use of any particular binding material or solvent thereone particular typeof fabric, it is believed that those skilled in the art can readily determine the proper binding material and the proper method of softening or gelatinizing and of applying the said binding material.

In the specification and in certain of the appended claims, I have used the term.

binding material in referring to the substance with which the fabric is treated. By the term binding material I intend to include any and all materials, plastic and otherwise, that may be softened or gelatinized by treatment with solvent-s, heat or other means, and which will naturally or on suitable treatment, after the fabric has been impregnated with the same, revert back to a solid condition.

It will be obvious from the foregoing de scription that many changes may be made in the exact description of the details of operation without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

l Vhat I claim is:

1. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of rendering guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material non-fraying. Which consists in the impregnation of the said guard liners or grips or of the portions thereof to be rendered non-fraying with a binding material.

2. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the

method of rendering guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material non-fraymg, which consists in the impregnation of the back face of the guard liner, or the portions thereof to be rendered non-fraying,

with a binding material.

3. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of rendering guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material non-fraying. which consists in the impregnation of the said guard liners or grips or of the portions thereof to be rendered non-fraying, with celluloid.

l. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of rendering guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material non-fraying, which consists in the impregnation of the back face of the guard liner or the portions thereof to be rendered non-fraying with celluloid.

i 5. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the

method of treating guard liner or grap fabric which is to be out so that when cut its edges will not fray which consistsin impregnating the fabric along the line of the proposed cut with a binding material.

6. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of treating guard liner or grip fabric which is to be cut so that when out its edges will not fray, which consists in impregnating the fabric along the line of the proposed cut with celluloid.

7. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of reinforcing and stiffening guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material, which consists in applying on the back face of the guard liner or grip a layer of reinforcing and stiffening material.

8. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of reinforcing and stiffening guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material, which consists in applying on the back face of the guard liner or grip a layer of celluloid.

9. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of reinforcing. stiffening and rendering non-fraying guard liners or grips made of fabric or. similar material, which consists in impregnating and coating one of the faces of the said guard liners or grips or portions thereof with a binding and stiffening material.

10. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of reinforcing, stiffening and rendering non-fraying guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material, which consists in impregnating and coating one of the faces of the said guard liners or grips or portions thereof with celluloid.

11. In the manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of reinforcing, stiffening and rendering non-fraying guard liners or grips made of fabric or similar material, which consists in impregnating and coating the said guard liners or grips or portions thereof with a gelatinous, pasty or fluid binding material and then causing the said binding material to solidify.

12. Inthe manufacture of eyeglasses, the method of reinforcing. stiffening and rendering non-fraying guard liners 0r grips made of fabric or similar material. which consists in impregnating and ctmting the said guard liners or portions thereof with celluloid in a gelatinous and pasty condition and then causing the celluloid to solidify.

13: Eyeglasses having guard liners or grips of fabric or similar material, the cut 1 1. Eyeglasses having guard liners or grips of pile fabric, the cut edges of which are impregnated with celluloid and rendered non-fraying.

15. E eglasses having guard liners or grips o fabric or similarmaterial, the cut edges of which are im regnated with a binding material and ren ered non-fraying and i 5 the back face of which has been stifiened and reinforced by a coating of binding material.

16. Eyeglasses havlng guard liners or grips of pile fabric, the cut edges of which are impregnated With celluloid and rendered n0n-fraying and the back face of which has 10 been stiffened and reinforced by a coating of the said celluloid.

CLEO H. KIDWELL. 

